Trump refuses Harris call for October debate

WILMINGTON

Donald Trump on Sept. 21 rejected a second debate against Kamala Harris before the Nov. 5 election, saying it was "too late" with early voting already underway in some states.

Earlier in the day, Harris's campaign said she had accepted an invitation from broadcaster CNN to participate in a debate on Oct. 23. It would have been the candidates' second debate, after a Sept. 10 encounter that most pundits said she had won.

"The American people deserve another opportunity to see Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before they cast their ballots," her campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a statement.

"I hope [Trump] will join me," Harris posted on X.

Trump claimed during a campaign rally in the battleground state of North Carolina that he would like to debate, calling it "good entertainment value," but the start of early voting in some states had taken the air out of the idea.

"It's just too late, voting has already started," he said.

He added, to a large and enthusiastic crowd of supporters, that while CNN had been "very fair" when he debated President Joe Biden in June, "they won't be fair again."

Vice President Harris replaced her boss at the top of the Democratic ticket after the 81-year-old Biden's disastrous performance against Trump.

His exit from the race left Trump, 78, now the oldest ever presidential nominee, against a much younger Harris, 59.

Sept. 21's announcement came as some states have already begun early voting in what is an agonizingly close race.

The result is expected to hinge on seven battleground states, including North Carolina.